Basketball: Busy summer for young Sharks in Euro competitions

Three players from Sheffield Sharks are in international competition over the coming weeks.

Point guard for the Sharks senior British Basketball League team, Nick Lewis, is on the Great Britain Under 20 squad for the European Championships B Division in Romania.

Lewis was brought up in Canada and New York but holds a British passport and became a vital part of the Sharks rotation last season. He is one of a number of young Sharks players who are benefiting from the club’s link with Sheffield Hallam University.

Team GB begin the tournament today against Group A rivals Slovakia, followed by matches against Luxembourg tomorrow, Romania on Sunday, Poland (16th July) and Hungary (17th July), followed by the knock-out stages of the competition.

Former Silverdale School student Devon Van Oostrum is also the Great Britain U20 squad.

Van Oostrum has been part of the senior set up at international level and was unlucky not to be named in last summer’s Olympic Games team.

The 20-year-old plays for Spanish club Laboral Kutxa and is considered one of the best young prospects in British basketball.

Great Britain are hoping to be promoted to Division A. Finishing in the top three of the tournament will achieve this.

In addition, two talented younger Sharks players will represent England at the junior age groups, over the course of the next month.

Marcus Welsh will play for the England U17s in a tournament in Dublin over the next week.

And Marko Backovic is in the England U16s in the Division B European Championships in Bosnia.

The tournament begins on August 8 against Romania with further group matches against, Switzerland (August 9), Ireland (August 10) and Slovenia (August 11) before the classification stages.